Chinese developers bought almost 40 per cent of the total $5 billion spent on Australia’s residential development sites in 2016, with a clear trend towards buying up land in far-flung Sydney and Melbourne suburbs, new research shows.

Knight Frank’s report, The Rise of Chinese Developers in Australia, found Chinese developers bought $2.4 billion of residential development sites in 2016, or 38 per cent of the total value of sites sold.

In 2015, Chinese developers bought 12 per cent of the total value of sites, Knight Frank head of residential research Michelle Ciesielski said.